My players are here at the club to win something, says Erith & Belvedere boss Micky Collins

ERITH & BELVEDERE manager Micky Collins says the hardest part of his job is keeping all of his players happy at Park View Road.



The Deres welcome lower-league Frimley Green to Park View Road on Sunday to contest a FA Carlsberg Vase Second Round tie, which has £1,250 up for grabs for the winner.

Erith & Belvedere sit proudly at the top of the Kent League, with ten wins and two draws from their thirteen games, while Frimley Green are unbeaten in second place in the Combined Counties League second flight.

“They are a very tough side,” warned Collins.  “They’re unbeaten in the league this year so it’s going to be a tough game for us.

“We’ve had them watched. We’ve shown them the respect they deserve and they’re a good side.  We’ve watched them a few times and I’ve been down and personally watched them.

“They’ve got some good players. I think their league position and the way they’ve played this year they’ve showed they’re probably a team that’s not a second division side in the Combined Counties League.”

Collins wants his side to take advantage of their home comforts, but admitted sometimes it spurs the opposition on playing at a Conference South standard stadium.

He said: “When you’ve got a ground like ours it seems to go against you.  Teams turn up and they see how good the pitch and the facilities and it spurs teams on.   It’s a bit like a Cup Final for them.

“We trained last night and we all agreed that we’re going to give it 100& because we want to be in the hat on Monday.”

Collins was pleased with his side’s 4-2 win over Tony Russell’s VCD Athletic side last Saturday, which put them back on top of the table.

He said: “It’s going well. We’ve only had a few injuries, which really helps. It was a great result on Saturday against VCD at the weekend. I was well pleased with the performance again and we scored another four goals. It’s the highlight of the season that we’re scoring a lot of goals – it will probably be 0-0 on Sunday now!”

Erith & Belvedere seem to be scoring goals for fun and strikers Andy Constable (16) and Adam Burchell have scored 28 goals between them.

Collins said: “When you look at the strikers we’ve got at the club, most of the players have played at a higher level so you’re expecting if they’re getting the service they’ll score the goals at our level.”

Collins admits it’s tough to keep every member of his squad happy.

“It’s the hardest part of the job,” he admitted.

“But I believe the players’ we’ve got at the club are here to win something. When they’re out of the squad for a game and they come back in they prove it. 

“They believe in what we’re doing. It’s a really good atmosphere there at the moment.

“We finished the season well last year and we kept the majority of the squad together.  Yes, we have improved it here and there. The boys’ believe where we’re trying to go with it but we get berated for the style of play.  If anyone watched us play on Saturday I think sometimes the criticism is a little bit harsh.

“We’ve proved that (we’re exciting to watch) with the amount of goals we score. Sometimes we let too many in!”

“Looking at our average attendances from the middle of last season to this season they’ve gone up quite a bit so that proves everyone wants to see the side winning.”

Collins laughed off the suggestion that his side are only six more wins away from a Wembley Final.

“That’s a long way off!  We don’t look that far! We look at one game. We look at Sunday.  We’ve done our homework on them and we’ll try to be in that hat on Monday. Whatever happens after that is a bonus. The prize money would be a massive bonus for the club.

“If that means it ends up being a draw at least we’re in the hat on Monday.”

Alex Waugh and Mark Okoye are both cup-tied on Sunday, having both played for Canterbury City and Greenwich Borough in this competition, but Collins revealed some good news on the injury front.

“Apart from that we’ve got a full squad,” revealed Collins.

“We’ve had the good news this week that Lewis Mingle, who has been out for 8-9 weeks, has now got fitness. He won’t be in the squad Sunday but he’ll be back as of next week so it’s a massive plus. It’s like signing a new player. It’s good.”

Visit Erith & Belvedere’s website: www.erithandbelvederefc.co.uk

Erith & Belvedere  v  Frimley Green
The FA Carlsberg Vase Second Round
Sunday 18^th November 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY